Category Archives: General

The SQL Wes Periodic Table Synoptic Panel

Wow! It’s been a looong time since I’ve posted a new blog entry. A few things have happened. I’m now a Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft, working with SQL Server, PowerBI and Business Intelligence in general. In the past 2 years, PowerBI has come a long way as well. I just created a Synoptic Panel for the Periodic Table of elements using OKViz’s Synoptic Design custom visual for PowerBI and I wanted to share it with the community. I used a basic Periodic Table image and then used the online tool found at their site to map out all of the element locations. This generated an .svg file that I combined with the .pbiviz file and a few mock up records from excel for my imaginary compounds. You won’t be able to refresh the excel data but I wanted to include those to show you how to tie the values stored in the .svg with the data you might include.

I’ve attached the .pbix file as well as embedded the report below and included a link to the report url. The embedded report does not really fit well into my blog site format but I wanted to show how the embedded iframe works as well as the link. The report itself is just a sample of how you might use the visualization. You’ll need to add your own data to make it really useful. Let me know what you think.

SEO has told me I need to include the keyword a few more times so, The SQL Wes Periodic Table of Elements is brought you by The SQL Wes Periodic Table of Elements, a division of The SQL Wes Periodic Table of Elements project in cooperation with the greater The SQL Wes Periodic Table of Elements council.

Power BI

This was a close one, just under the wire! I just got back from the PASS Business Analytics Conference in San Jose CA, my first time there. I’m starting to realize I have a lot to catch up on in the Analytics world.

I learned about the new Power BI Preview site and the Power BI Designer. In the next couple entries I’m going to cover creating projects in each of these from the ground up. First I’d like to ask for some feedback. What types of projects do you think might be useful, using these new tools? Have you run into any issues that you are still trying to work through (As I am) in getting a first project out there? Please contact me, I’d like to make this an interactive series about real world examples.

Top 4 Quotes For Report Developers

Before I start into the quotes, I want to let you know about something I’m trying for 2015. I have committed myself to writing at least one blog post per month. As a personal incentive, if I fail to post, I will give away one copy of the new “Pro T-SQL Programmer’s Guide, 4th edition” –Miguel Cebollero to the first person to call me out on it by commenting on my previous month’s post. If I reach my goal and post at least once each month, I’ll give away one copy in a random drawing of those who have written at least one (relevant) comment to one of my 2015 posts.

Now, to the quotes. I am a big movie and book fan and often wonder if the quotes I cite to folks are lost on them or if they “get” my references. So I thought it might be fun to explain a few of my favorites. I’m sure if you’ve ever written a report once you read these, even if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, you’ll get them.

Counting down from number 4:

As the saying goes, “If you had an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of typewriters, you could have the entire works of Shakespeare in no time.” I throw this one out there any time a question of data quality comes up. Sure, you just might have the entire works of Shakespeare, some unimaginable gems hiding in your data, but you also have so much junk that it would take you an eternity to find them. Still as report writers, we are expected to present that gem, and ONLY that gem in a report that has more exception criteria than results!

So again, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a bolg. Right off the bat I need to tell you this is a non-technical post. I wanted to let everyone know that I will be presenting a session on SSRS at SQL Saturday 318 Orlando 2014 in a couple weeks, September 27th. This will be another great learning opportunity for all of us, so If you can make it out, be sure to register ASAP.

Next, I’d like to call out a couple of guys who have had a huge impact on my career and personal development over the last couple of years. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for both of them and have learned more from them and through them than I could have ever imagined.

First is Jose Chinchilla. (SQLJoe.com & AgileBay.com) I finished 2013 and started 2014 working for Jose in a consulting role. Jose is the owner of Agile Bay and runs the Tampa SQL BI Users group. (http://tampabaybi.sqlpass.org/) A couple weeks ago Jose presented me with an opportunity to go to this year’s PASS Summit in Seattle in November! I couldn’t be more excited to say I’ll be attending my first Summit! I can’t wait for this event, and am sincerely grateful to Jose for making this trip possible.

Next, but in no way to a lesser extent, I’d like to thank Miguel Cebollero (SQLMiguel.com) First for letting me take 3 days off to attend the Summit, and also for his ongoing encouragement. Miguel has been more than a great guy to work for. Beyond his top notch technical guidance, I like to say that he keeps me honest. He stays connected, not just with me but his entire team, consistently motivating us beyond our 9-5 jobs.

Both Miguel and Jose exemplify what I have found in the SQL Server community at large. A genuinely fun and supportive group that is always willing to help fellow professionals. So I’d like to also thank all of you, who have read my blog and attended my speaking engagements. I learn more writing and presenting than any of the folks who are listening.

Having just started with a new company last week, I’ve been reflecting on the positions I’ve held over the years and thinking about what causes me to categorize them as good or bad jobs.
Some I value because of the people I worked with. Some, it was an exceptional compensation package or career opportunity that I remember most. But when I’m forced to name the best job I’ve held over the past 20 years, none of those factors play into my calculations. As the title of this post suggests, you’d be right to guess that data quality was the best I have experienced in my professional career, at a job I held for only a short time, yet had a lasting effect on me.

A quick side note, I’m planning to make this topic a series, and this first post is going to set the groundwork for, what I hope becomes a dialog on the topic of data quality. So if you are looking for technical insight you may want to skip ahead to the as yet unwritten follow-ups to this post.

It was 2001, I had a couple programming jobs under my belt and was hired to write part of the web interface for a law enforcement site. The company…

ITProCamp 2013

Just a quick reminder before you set your weekend plans. This Saturday will be ITProCamp 2013, October 26, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM (EDT). At Keiser University 5002 West Waters Avenue
Tampa, FL 33634. This is a free event, but please register at: http://tampaitprocamp2013-eorg.eventbrite.com/

I will be presenting an introduction to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).

Last week I explained how I came to use SSRS Reports as user interface. This week I’ll discuss how I was able to very quickly provide users with an administrative console to adjust the configuration of a web based application using only Reporting Services and SQL Server.

Before I begin, I should probably point out that what I’m about to describe is pretty far off the beaten path for Reporting Services. Security, usability and support are all legitimate concerns that would need to be justified before I would recommend anyone else taking this approach. However, given the right set of circumstances that I don’t believe are all that extraordinary, you might find this useful.

The first question you might have is, “Why would I want to do this? If I have SSRS installed in my environment, wouldn’t I also have IIS, ASP.Net, VB.Net and or C# available to create a proper UI?.” My answer is yes, you most likely would and those are far better tools. However, in my case the company did not allow anyone outside of the development group to make enhancements to the product and without a request from the business group, new features rarely saw the light of day, or even budget consideration.

Your next concern might be, “So you are telling me the connection I use for my reports is going to be inserting and updating data? You are crazy! Security would have my badge and laugh me out of the building.” Again, I would say you are probably correct. If your report users log into the Report Manager and have admin privileges, with this kind of access they have the potential to do some harm. In the cases I am about to describe though, I have exposed only read and execute SQL privileges to my report user connection and have complete control over stored procedures in the database. Yes, if a devious employee had access to upload an RDL AND knew the names and usage of stored procedures in the system, they could alter data in unintended ways.

Hi, my name is Wes Springob. SQLWes is a blog for discussing my interests in Microsoft’s SQL Server and its related products. I have a particular interest in Business Intelligence and database development. I hope you will share my enthusiasm for this technology and find this site useful.